ABSTRACT
Fidel Castro was born on 13 August 1926 in the province of Banes, in Biran, a small town that could only be reached by horse. He was the illegitimate child of Angel Castro, an illiterate Gallego of humble extraction originally from Lugo, in Spain, who, attempting to escape from the misery of his family, joined the army as a young man and was sent to Cuba to defend the Spanish Crown from “independentists” who had taken cover in the Eastern Sierra of the island. Fidel Pino interceded with the religious authorities and Fidel Castro was finally accepted. He could visit his mother only at Christmas, but was never allowed to visit “Las Manacas”, his father’s large house; he saw his father on only a few occasions and from a distance, when Angel was inspecting his land on horseback.
